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overview
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overview
This
profile considers the Gannett newspaper group, which operates
in the US and UK.
It covers -
the group
US media group Gannett
is the largest North American newspaper publisher in terms
of circulation. Its holdings include broadcast and multimedia
interests, along with newspapers in the UK, where it has
continued to expand through acquisition of titles from
SMG and INM.
Revenues in 2000 were US$6.2 billion. Gannett papers have
a combined daily circulation of approximately 7.2 million
in the US and 600,000 in the UK. The group's 22 television
stations reach approximately 17.7% of the US market. It
has a presence in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong.
It publishes 100 daily newspapers in the US (including
USA Today) and over 300 titles in the United Kingdom.
The group boasts that it publishes more than 500 non-daily
publications around the world, employing 53,400 people.
Gannett is often derided, with much justice, as publishing
'Mcpapers' - upbeat, using colour as MSG, superficial,
conservative and resolutely provincial.
the group
Gannett traces its origins to the turn of last century,
when Frank Gannett (1876-1957) bought a half interest
in the Elmira (New York) Gazette. By 1923 Gannett
consisted of six newspapers located in the eastern US;
it expanded into mid-west and western newspapers and radion
stations during the thirties. By 1947 it operated 21 newspapers,
seven radio stations and its own news service.
The founder gained attention for his crusade against the
Roosevelt administration and for his attempts to quash
criticism of far-right organisations. (Freedom of the
press, it seems, was to be restricted to those who owned
one.)
During the sixties and seventies, under the direction
of Paul Miller and Allen Neuharth, Gannett bought newspapers,
television and radio stations across the US and founded
the national USA Today (current circulation is
daily circulation is approximately 2.3 million).
By 1970 it comprised 33 dailies, 12 weeklies, six radio
stations and two television stations. During the seventies
it absorbed several rival chains: by 1979 it owned 78
daily newspapers in 33 states and Guam, a national news
service, seven television and 14 radio stations, outdoor
advertising plants in the United States and Canada, 21
weekly newspapers and Louis Harris & Associates research.
In 1995 it bought Multimedia: 10 daily newspapers, five
television stations, two radio stations and cable television
systems. In the following year it sold Louis Harris &
Associates and then disposed of its radio stations. In
1999 its UK subsidiary bought Newsquest, one of the largest
regional newspaper publishers with over 180 titles.
In the following year it acquired Newscom (the eighth
largest regional newspaper publisher in the United Kingdom
with 99 publications including four dailies) and 19 daily
US newspapers from Thomson.
It paid US$2.6 billion for the Pulliam
family's and south-western Central Newspapers. In 2002
it bought the Herald newspapers (including the Glasgow
Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times)
from SMG for £216 million. In 2003
it paid £60 million for 45 Greater London titles (29 paid-for
and 16 free weeklies) of O'Reilly-controlled INM.
In April 2006, as part of disassembly of Knight
Ridder, McClatchy announced
that it would sell The San Jose Mercury News
and The Contra Costa Times to a partnership of
MediaNews, Gannett and Arkansas-based
Stephens Group. MediaNews would
control 54% and run the two titles, with Gannett holding
a 19% interest and Stephens a 26% interest.
A chronology of the Gannett group is here.
Holdings
The following page provides
an indication of Gannett holdings.
Studies
There have been no major studies of the group. Confessions
of an S.O.B (New York: Doubleday 1989) by former executive
Al Neuharth is a quirky confection that offers insights
into the organisation's values.
Thomas
Frank characterises it as a "diary of corporate megalomania."
Neuharth boasts that
When
Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee
snipped: "If USA Today is a good newspaper,
then I'm in the wrong business,'' I told our editors
at the next news conference, "Bradlee and I finally
agree on something. He is in the wrong business."
Donald
Brandt's History of Gannett 1906-1993 (Gannett
1993) is the authorised corporate history.
Richard McCord's The Chain Gang: One Newspaper versus
the Gannett Empire (Columbia: Uni of Missouri Press
1996) severely criticised Gannett's business and journalistic
practice. There is a more indulgent account in Peter Prichard's
The Making of McPaper: The Inside Story of USA Today
(Kansas: Andrew McMeel & Parker 1987); the author is a
former Gannett executive.
Broader academic studies include
Leaving Readers Behind: The Age of Corporate Newspapering
(Fayetteville: Uni of Arkansas Press
2001) edited by Gene Roberts, Thomas
Kunkel & Charles Layton and The Menace of the Corporate
Newspaper: Fact or Fiction? (Ames: Iowa State Uni
Press 1996)
by David Demers.
A perspective is provided by Dane Claussen's 1999 paper
The Myths and Realities of Newspaper Acquisition Costs:
Fiduciary Responsibilities, Fungibility of Assets, Winners'
Penalties & Excess Cash "Problems".
For the Des Moines Register see Covering
Iowa: The History of the Des Moines Register and Tribune
Company, 1849-1985 (Ames: Iowa State Uni Press 2001)
by William Friedricks.
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